MR. VAN BREDA AND THE FACTORY ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9238, 28 June 1893, Page 3

MR. VAN BREDA AND THE FACTORY ACT.

i TO THE EDITOR, Sib,— have deferred replying to the attacks which have been made upon me by sundry demagogues and agitators, people who are the vampires of the working class, till the cases which have been brought against me under the Factory Act were decided. Now that the Supreme Court in both instances has pronounced in my favour, I feel at liberty to give an explanation of my actions to the public. It has been said that my cases had no merits, and were a " scandalous evasion" of the law. It would have been true if the Act had been called a scandalous Act. At all events I consider it to be such, and therefore I left all the merits of the case aside, and preferred to fight the law with the law. This is not an evasion, which means " to go outBide of the Act." Well, I won by remaining wit'nrj the four corners of it. Now about the merits of the case. In the first instance I was summoned for not having a certificate. On the sth of January I paid my license fee, and had fulfilled all the requirements of the Act for the current year. In case a certificate had been required it should have i been swob to uif; there .aad then, But the

Inspector did not do bo. In March he sent me a schedule to be filled in, in order that he might prepare certain returnsfor Parliament, J-hose returns are, according to the ! Act. strictly confidential, and as a matter, of course, so is the sohednle. A clerical error in that schedule ' caused the Inspector to make a demand upon me for payment of a higher fee, coupled with the remark that ha had not given me a certificate. The point I contended was, that the Inspector had no right to make use of this confidential schedule : the more so as he could, according to the Act, by personal inspection of the register - and the workroom, have convinced himself at any time if I fulfilled the conditions of my license or certificate. Should a yearly certificate be required, this would St anybody yearly at the mercy of the Inspector, who might compel by his refusal that a' manufacturer should close, temporarily at least, his workroom.. The second case brought against me was, that contrary to law I had not paid my workers for certain holidays. The Act by this clause tries to destroy freedom of contract, and raises the worst type of class legislation, by adding the condition that this shall only relate to weekly wages, while piece-work does not come under it. Why should piece-workers be less favoured than weekly-wage-earners ? Or, reverse it: Why should a man, who, through the nature of his business, cannot employ piece-workers, be punished and burdened to pay 16 per cent, extra wages during five weeks every year ? Still, as a matter of fact, I do pay for those fivo holidays, and even for more than that, at the request of the workers themselves, so that in equity I fulfil the letter of the law. Now it remains alone to refute the charge brought against me, that the wages I do pay are low, and not sufficient for the needs of the workers. lam sorry to admit that thoy are low, but this is not my fault. The Government alone is to blame, They have given us a so-called protective tariff, with the object, it is said, of fostering native industry, in reality to gab as much money as possible in the Treasury, without the people grumbling against it. What is the.good of fostering an industry which is not worth having, giving the people at large a pretext of remaining in the towns, and in reality, taxing the people in the country for the luxury of wearing a cotton shirt. As our tariff is framed, we make in this province principally the lower class oi goods, and 25 per cent, duty is not sufficient to exclude the ready made article. This struggle with the foreign market keeps the rate of wages for shirts, etc., so low. As was said last year before a Commission sitting in Melbourne, a duty of 50 per cent, is required to be able to work successfully against imported 'goods. Cotton piece goods are imported duty free, Crimean shirtings must pay 20 per cent., in order that the Southern Manufacturers can produce those. I declare, and am willing to prove it, that I do not make any profit out of the wages I do pay. The only money I make is by working, assisted by my wife, every day 14 or 16 hours. I would not complain if my industry were closed ; as the case at present stands it is a ntruggle without profit. I need nob tell yon that the rate of wages is the same in my workroom as in other places, otherwise the natural consequence would take place. Last year Mr. Adam Porter, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, wished to look into the points I have touched upon, and made inquiries. I gave him a full insight into my business, and he left with the conviction that my work-people were well treated, and thab under the circumstances it was notpossible to pay a higher rate of wages. If those people who live by agitation could be brought to work themselves for their daily bread instead of letting this be don by the working classes, and taking from them the means of an idle life, things would be better.—l am, etc., J. Van Breda.